In search of adventure

Claire found a pigeon in the garden and spent the morning dashing between the chestnut tree and the garden gate, then zinging through the house to dash out to the chestnut tree again, barking frantically inbetweentimes in frustration at the bird just out of reach in the dense foliage above. This is a picture of Nobu, quite the younger child in the brood, sallying off after sister Claire, who obviously looked like she was having a lot of fun, and persuaded him to leave the cool kitchen floor to brave the summer heat...in search of adventure, but as far as Nobu is concerned, it's more about tagging along than the pigeons.

Stitch on the warpath

The gundog rescue shelter is looking for pictures to grace its 2013 calendar, and I'm having such a difficult time choosing. I'm only allowed one picture, so I'm thinking it's got to be one of both dogs. Plus now with Tosh's single lens reflex (SLR) camera, previous pictures of the dogs seem soft and blurry. Meanwhile Nobu has been with us for six months, so he's much more settled and confident, and I'm hoping perhaps we can get another photo shoot in before the July 7th deadline.
I want to choose a picture that you actually get pleasure from looking at a lot: it has to be an invitation to look at the dogs inside the calendar, and one that showcases shelter policy if possible, and it has to be something upbeat and pleasing rather than scary or weird, Nobu in action probably looks too fiersome for someone not used to dogs.

Tosh spent a whole early morning trying to get something really hot of the the two of then in synch, and it turns out it's really hard to get a perfect close up without tying them up. I like this one, but it seems unfair to Claire who is such a regal beauty, complementing Nobu's handsome features. There just isn't a perfect picture :( Then if I give up and just go for one dog, say, Claire's Marilyn Monroe picture, we miss out on sweet Nobu. All this wondering and worrying, I may just give up and not submit a picture at all -  after all, I have the blog for all the world to see their beauty :)

Moptail

Caught Napping

Getting too hot for dog runs, after a short burst of energy it's time to flake out in the heat...our dog trainer, Dodo sensei, showed me a brilliat new park yesterday about twenty minutes drive away depending on traffic, with many wooded areas. The parking is only open from 9 to 5, and we got there just past nine, it was a great walk in the shade. Now I need to go with Tosh to get some fantastic woody cool pics...only I'm so busy this weekend...Below what Dodo sensei wrote about Claire and Nobu in his June 1 blog entry:

￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣●出張トレーニングのイングリッシュ・セターのClaireちゃん（左側：雌）と信長ちゃん（右側：雄）です。
２頭共にガンドック保護犬ですが、イギリス生まれの飼主さんが引き取り、トレーニングを継続されています。
イギリスは動物愛護の先進国であり、１年近く関わる中でこちらも飼主さんから教えていただくことも多くあります。
現在、２頭は長時間の「伏せ」「待て」などコマンドも良く聴き大変落着き、飼主さん（家族も）とは勿論のこと、同居犬としても良好な関係になっています。

これ迄に他にも長期に渡りトレーニングをされた例がいくつかありますが、皆、素晴しい愛玩犬となっています。

Thunderbirds are GO!

Game of Tag

Deleted scenes

These reject pictures are quite expressive. Cut, cut! But here they are :) Walked down the hill this morning and ended up stopping in the park to let a group of school kids pet Claire and Nobu. I think it's really important to pass it forward and give children the chance to get close to really big dogs (I mean they're not, but this is petite Japan! Everyone has chihuahas or miniature dachshunds) and see how gentle and beautiful they are. Nobu gets a little nervous as they shriek and jump around, but both he and Claire are very good, sitting and waiting and never protesting as they timidly pet, patting the head, fearfully stroking their backs, touching their tails, learning how to stroke under the chin and fondle behind the ears. I shared their story and this website with the teacher too, hoping she'll use the websites and follow up in class, teaching about not abandoning animals and implanting microchips and understanding what beautiful pets setters are - perhaps the kids'll grow up not only confident around bigger dogs, but one day own one (or two?) too.

Resident Photographer

Kabuki Setters

Nobu invites Claire to play

...and gets the cold shoulder...

Ukiyoe:Kamezo & Kodanji4

Sleeping beauties